Skuldtech, an expert in the discovery of genomic and transcriptomic biomarkers and specialized in the development of innovative diagnostics, changes its name to Acobiom.
The new name is intended to confirm the company’s strategic shift towards personalized medicine, which started in 2009 and represents a major opportunity for the medicine of the future.
Personalized medicine tailors treatment to the patient’s biological characteristics. It is one of the most promising approaches in oncology and in the targeted treatment of neurodegenerative diseases and some infections.
Used in screening, diagnosis and in evaluating response to, or tolerance of, a targeted therapy, biomarkers are increasingly linked to the development and growth of the market for personalized medicine. According to PwC, the current value of the US market for personalized medicine is USD 232 billion (EUR 170 billion). The therapeutics and diagnostics segment is expected to reach USD 42 billion by 2015, with average growth of 10 per cent per year.
In taking the name Acobiom, the company seeks to promote and develop its companion diagnostics and its expertise in the discovery of new biomarkers. It also embodies their strong position within ‘omics’ technologies. In the coming months Acobiom plans to bring new companion diagnostics to market and to launch new clinical trials for cancer.
Acobiom has filed two cancer-related patents and is expected to file a further two in the same thematic area by the end of the year. The company’s scientific team identified and selected the biomarkers derived from its platform, which combines genomic and transcriptomic technologies with the proprietary bioinformatics and biostatistics programs that are the result of 15 years of development and technical expertise. In particular, the Acobiom team has unique scientific expertise in the analysis of gene expression in blood cells and whole blood.
Today, Acobiom’s growth is based on the development and marketing of innovative companion diagnostics. In parallel, the company wants to expand its services arm so that it can work with the full range of players in the life sciences sector, offering them its knowhow in ‘omics’ technologies, sequencing and bioinformatics.
“As the company turns fifteen, this new name represents a new avenue for us,” said Didier Ritter, chairman and CEO of Acobiom. “For all our staff and shareholders ‘Acobiom’ embodies the constant reinvention and enhancement of our position in personalized medicine, the medicine of tomorrow.”
Since it was formed in 1999, Acobiom has raised EUR 1.5 million from private investors. It has also received EUR 1.3 million in funding from French public investment bank Bpifrance for two projects developed in partnership with pharmaceutical company AB Science; investigating pancreatic cancer and Alzheimer’s disease.
Acobiom is now seeking additional funding to finance its clinical trials. Of the available options an initial public offering is envisaged in the longer term, to finance the marketing of its first companion diagnostics.